Discussion | Social Grey Space

Social Grey Space Impressions

The following images provide impressions of the buildings’ utilized semi-outdoor grey spaces. The sketched people suggest some of the activities that are typically taking place in these areas.

Many social activities occur in the lobby area, which is open to several sides and naturally ventilated. The ‘tai tun’ like space, being rather generous in size, also provides seating areas with a power supply to allow individual or group work flexibly.

The elevator lobby is the vertical connection to all upper-floor levels; it gives access to the elevators and the central stair. Brief meetings and information exchanges, mainly related to classes of studios, also occur here.

Grey spaces on the upper floor areas are scarce to nonexistent. An exception is an extended corridor space next to the elevator core on the 4th-floor level, with tables and chairs for students to prepare for lecture classes on this specific floor level.

The open-air cafeteria with seating areas under the shade along the central courtyard, Besides being a social gathering space for getting drinks or taking snacks, also provides space for project work or informal study.

The courtyard can only be used in the late afternoon to the high solar radiation and resulting high temperature in the area. The courtyard’s surface, surrounded by small tree pots, makes it impossible to linger in the daytime. Students are more likely to use the area for late afternoon activities; however, weather conditions can easily compromise in rainy seasons.

Another example of using extended corridor space next to the elevator core on the 6th-floor level, where a small area on the escape stair wall can be used for exhibiting student work and gathering in front of it.

On other floor levels, grey area extensions are more difficult to find. Especially on the studio floor levels, only small corridors exist. The passages do not necessarily invite more extended stays, primarily due to limited cross ventilation and extensive exposure to sunlight, especially on the upper floor areas. Nonetheless, these areas occasionally find use by students and lecturers to showcase design works.

At SOAD, most of the used gray spaces are on the ground floor, with the entrance hall and the seating area in the cafeteria being the most used spaces. The quality of the upper floors is limited when it comes to offering gray spaces for user activity, as the corridor spaces are more optimized for pure traffic purposes. There are small niches, but they are not attractive enough. In addition, the climatic conditions and the lack of green space seem to put these areas at a disadvantage in the use of gray space.